Copwatch

[Page 225]Copwatch is a loosely affiliated international network of community-based organizations comprising volunteers who patrol neighborhoods and video record public interactions between law enforcement and citizens. While various Copwatch groups are motivated by distinct political views, Copwatching is broadly understood to be method of deterring police misconduct and increasing police accountability via surveillance of police activity, as the practice of Copwatching was developed to enable community-based organizations to exercise power over the police and hold them accountable for abuse of authority. Copwatch videos are typically posted on YouTube or other social media and/or submitted as evidence of police misconduct in a court of law, but some have objected that the practice of Copwatching violates privacy.

Since 1990, more than 50 Copwatch organizations have formed in North ...